Fidelity plans to launch a stablecoin

• Key insight: Fidelity is preparing to issue its own dollar-backed stablecoin via ethereum in the coming weeks.
• Expert quote: "When a firm with Fidelity's distribution decides to mint and redeem dollars on a public chain, the market is telling you where treasury, settlement and capital markets' plumbing is heading." — Borderless CEO Kevin Lehtiniitty
• Forward look: Anticipate additional stablecoin issuances from financial institutions stemming from the GENIUS Act.

Fidelity is preparing to launch its own stablecoin for retail and institutional investors.

The stablecoin, named the Fidelity Digital Dollar, or FIDD, will be issued in the coming weeks by Fidelity Digital Assets, a subsidiary of the investment firm that received a national trust charter from Comptroller Jonathan Gould along with four other crypto firms in December.

In the trust charter application approval document released by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency last month, the agency affirmed that Fidelity Digital Assets would be able to issue its own stablecoins.

The OCC document noted that "the Bank's proposed issuance of a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin is also permissible as an activity of a trust company or related thereto. Various state-chartered limited purpose trust companies … have been permitted to issue stablecoins." The Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, or GENIUS, Act gave uninsured national banks the authority to issue stablecoins.

"The recent passage of the GENIUS Act was a significant milestone for the industry in providing clear regulatory guardrails for payment stablecoins," said Mike O'Reilly, president of Fidelity Digital Assets. "We're thrilled to launch a fiat-backed stablecoin at a time of increasing regulatory clarity to better support our customers' needs, provide choice in the marketplace, and enable continued progress towards a more efficient financial system."

Fidelity Investments CEO Abigail Johnson has been a champion of digital assets and crypto for years. Fidelity Digital Assets was launched by the Boston-based investment firm in 2019. The upcoming stablecoin launch is the latest in a series of alternative investment strategy moves, such as a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund, filed in 2023 and approved in early 2024, that the firm has made in recent years. 

In a January 2026 stablecoin research report published by Fidelity Digital Assets, research analyst Matt Hogan said that "stablecoins facilitate more seamless transactions within DeFi [decentralized finance] platforms, allowing users to trade, pay and transfer value without worrying about price fluctuations often associated with other digital assets."

Early last year, Vantage Bank and Custodia Bank together released the first bank-issued stablecoin on the ethereum blockchain. Other large banks that are reportedly considering issuing stablecoins include U.S. Bank, Bank of America, JPMorganChase and Citi.

Fidelity's stablecoin will run on the ethereum blockchain, according to the company, and holders will be able to transfer FIDD to any ethereum mainnet address. According to a company representative, Fidelity Digital Assets has set up an EtherScan domain address as part of its testing process ahead of the official launch.

"At Fidelity, we have a long-standing belief in the transformative power of the digital assets ecosystem and have spent years researching and advocating for the benefits of stablecoins," O'Reilly said. 

Kevin Lehtiniitty, CEO of stablecoin infrastructure provider Borderless, told American Banker that the interoperability of Fidelity's stablecoin will determine whether it can become a piece of financial infrastructure for investors or whether it will be a product feature limited to Fidelity customers.

"When a firm with Fidelity's distribution decides to mint and redeem dollars on a public chain, the market is telling you where treasury, settlement and capital markets' plumbing is heading," he said. "What I'm watching is whether Fidelity's digital dollar actually behaves like internet-native money — meaning will it be movable, composable and broadly usable — or whether instead it becomes a branded internal ledger with limited exit ramps."